Midsummer Mayhem
by ejb
Summary: Jeff decides to spend a Saturday afternoon at home with his young family.  T.V. verse


I don't own the rights to Thunderbirds, Granada Television do. The Tracy family are the creation of Gerry & Sylvia Anderson.

Thanks to my betas, Dickonfan and Quiller for their eagle eyes and suggestions for which I'm ever so grateful.

Midsummer Mayhem

Jeff Tracy sat in his study at home after lunch, finishing off the last of the reports and various documents that his fast growing business of Tracy Enterprises was yielding. Outside the weather was warm and he hoped once he got the paperwork done he could relax and take advantage of a peaceful Saturday at home with his family.

He looked up after hearing a knock on the door. His mother poked her head around the door to see if he was busy on the telephone or not and then she came in with a mug of coffee for him.

"I've just had a call from my friend, Martha Lewis, Jeff," Ruth Tracy told him. "She's had a fall and hurt her leg so I'm going over to see her for a while. The boys are out playing in the yard, apart from Scott who's over at his friend Mike's house. So can you watch them for a while?"

"Okay, Mother, I'm just about done here anyway," Jeff replied. "You go and visit Martha. Tell her I'm sorry to hear about her accident."

"Thanks, Jeff. I've prepared the vegetables for dinner and made a steak pie, so will you put them on to cook later if I'm not back in time?" his mother asked.

"Sure, Mom, don't worry about it. I'll take care of things around here," he replied with a smile. "It'll make a change from looking at paperwork all the time."

"Well see that you do, Jeff. You spend far too much time in here and it's a shame to waste such a hot sunny day," she told him as she left the room.

He sat reading the last of the reports for a few minutes whilst slowly sipping the welcoming drink his mother had supplied, and then he filed away the papers and put the last of the letters to one side, ready for mailing on Monday. Picking up his mug of coffee, he went and stood over by the window and surveyed the scene in front of him.

He looked around the back yard of his home just outside of Garden City. It was not far from the farm in Kansas where he had grown up and was convenient enough to get to New York when he needed to go in person to the hub of his business empire.

As he looked around he noticed the vast difference in his back yard and those of the homes of friends or business associates when he visited them. Instead of beautiful flower beds and neatly trimmed shrubs, his back yard at this minute was strewn with bikes, skateboards, toy cars and a half made cart, no doubt constructed by Virgil at some time. He loved to build things out of anything he considered suitable for the job. At least the grass lawn was tidy enough and there was a place over the far side where his mother could grow a few flowers and vegetables.

Four of his five sons were out there playing. Virgil, almost nine, was busy walking from the garage at the front carrying a box of what looked like junk. John, six and a half, was idly sitting on the swing reading a comic as he went slowly back and forth. The two youngest, four year old Gordon and three year old Alan, were happily playing with some toy cars on a large mat that had roads and street scenes printed on it that Alan had been given for his last birthday.

Jeff thought to himself, 'At least Alan's birthday present helped Gordon to take his mind off the play pool that he had received for his birthday present in February. He had wanted to play in it immediately even though it was the middle of winter.

John finished reading his comic and pushed it inside his shirt, then began to operate the swing with more intensity. Jeff finished his coffee and took the empty cup into the kitchen and rinsed it at the sink before going out into the yard to join his sons.

As Jeff walked quietly to the play area, John had made the swing go at a faster speed now and seemed intent on trying to launch himself into space, by the expression on his face. Gordon saw his father approaching them first and immediately abandoned the car game to run towards him. "Daddy," he cried out happily. "Daddy, can I have my pool out? It's not snowy anymore."

Alan looked up too and began running after Gordon. Jeff smiled to see his two little sons running towards him and bent down to scoop them both up into his arms.

"Can I, Daddy, please?" Gordon asked again. "You said I had to wait 'til the sun came out to play in it.

Jeff looked at his second-youngest son who had such a look of anticipation on his face that he did not have the heart to refuse. "Well, seeing as it's warm today, you can play in it for a while. Ask Virgil to help you get it out and fill it."

Gordon did not waste a second wriggling out of his father's embrace to run over to his elder brother, closely followed by Alan, who wanted to be in on the action too. Virgil had just finished finding a piece he needed out of the box and was going into the garage to get something else when he was confronted by his youngest siblings, eager for him to comply with their father's suggestion.

"Virgie, Daddy says you have to help get my pool out and fill it." Gordon said. "Will you? Please."

Virgil had other plans that did not include doing this but the expression on his little brother's face made him unable to refuse his request.

"Okay, Gordy, let's get it out of the garage then," he said.

The garage was never a home for a car. It was filled with various items belonging to the boys that would not fit into the house. After moving all sorts of boxes containing various play articles and accumulated junk that Virgil had assembled that 'might just come in handy one day,' he managed to get at the box containing the play pool and brought it out into garden after squeezing out of the narrow gap he'd made to get at it.

The two little ones were eager to help with the filling of water process. Gordon had already unwound the garden hose from the hook on the wall and Alan had turned on the water and watched with glee as it began to flow out.

"Not yet, Alan!" Virgil yelled. "We have to get it out of the box first and open it out before we fill it."

"I want to fill it, it's my pool." Gordon said as he snatched the hose from Alan and narrowly missed soaking him with water in the process.

Virgil quickly turned off the water before anybody else got soaked and took the hose from Gordon. "Come on, let's get it out of the box first and put it out on the grass."

John chose that moment to leave the swing and go to his father who picked him up and sat him on his knee. "That was some height you made the swing go, son," he said. "I thought you were going to go up into space."

"I want to go up in a rocket like you, Daddy," the small blond boy replied. "I don't want to go up on a swing. It would be a long way to fall and I might bump my head. How do you drive a rocket Daddy? It's got no wings like a plane or wheels like a car."

Jeff smiled and told John yet again about his time with NASA and his journey to the moon before John was born and after that how he had left the space agency behind to be nearer his wife and family, and had set up his own engineering business which had rapidly expanded. He was pleased to have such an avid listener and John's keen interest in anything to do with space fascinated him. It seemed all of his sons had different interests and talents and he loved to see the way their personalities were shaping.

Minutes later he was helping them to set up the square canvas pool. It was blue with yellow fishes and seashells decorated around and they were revealed as each side was unfolded and clipped into place. Jeff was hoping this gift would keep Gordon's desire to visit the local swimming pool down to at least once or twice a week.

Jeff closed the water plug and said, "Right, boys, it's ready, go fill it with water. Be careful with that hose, Virgil, while I get the boys' swimming trunks and some towels."

Jeff sat contentedly reading his newspaper and a business journal while half watching four of his children happily splashing about in the pool in the afternoon sunshine. Virgil and John had decided to join in with the fun much to Gordon's delight.

He was interrupted in his relaxation by a call on his mobile phone from one of his business managers in New York wanting to ask some questions about a business contract that had been recently finalised. "As I'm chairing the meeting on your behalf on Monday morning, Jeff, I've just called into the office to get a few details I need. Can you get them ready for me and I'll call you back when I'm about to leave here later?"

"Sure, Roy, I'll have them ready for you, "Jeff told him. "I'll be leaving for New York on Tuesday, so I'll see how the meeting went then."

He ended the call and went into the kitchen and came out with some drinks for the boys and himself to enjoy in the outdoor summer sun. The boys sat in the pool to drink their drinks, still enjoying themselves too much to want to come out.

Scott was enjoying his time with his friend Mike Harvey. They had played a few computer games and Scott wanted to go to the store and collect a magazine he'd looked forward to reading. It was near the park and so he made a suggestion for what they could do next. "How about playing a game of ball in the park? You need to improve your catching skills for the school team. I want to go to the store too."

"No I don't want to go that far. Let's just play in the yard," Mike answered.

"I don't like doing that, I've been in trouble from my Dad before, especially if any windows get smashed," Scott replied.

"It's okay. There are no houses at the back, just empty lots. I can catch a lot better now. Just give it best of ten each. Then we'll do something else," Mike told him. "We'll be okay and you can go to the store on the way home."

The game progressed and was going well. Mike's catching skills were improving so Scott decided to make things a little harder for him and struck the ball at the next throw a lot harder. Mike was caught unawares and completely missed the catch and soon the sound of breaking glass filled the air.

"Awww, man, what did you have to hit it so hard for!?" Mike yelled at Scott. "You've smashed Mr. Lomax's greenhouse and he'll be around to complain now. Better get ready for it, he's not going to be happy."

After about two hours Jeff thought it was time for the boys to come out of the pool, but he knew it was going to be difficult, especially with Gordon.

Suddenly an angry looking man appeared looking over the back gate and called his name. Jeff got up to see what the trouble was and when he opened the gate he was surprised to see his eldest son standing beside the man, looking miserable.

"This your boy?" the man demanded of Jeff. He still had an angry expression on his face.

"Yes, that's my son, what seems to be the problem?" Jeff asked in a calm manner, hoping to pacify the man and looking at Scott at the same time who was still standing silently by the man's side. "And who am I speaking to?"

"Problem? I'll tell you what the problem is," the man replied, his voice getting louder. "My name is Lomax, Harry Lomax and I live on the next block. Your boy and his friend who lives next door to me have just smashed two glass panels in my greenhouse by playing baseball in the yard. So what you going to do about it?"

"Well first of all we'll keep calm, and stop shouting, Mr. Lomax," Jeff Tracy replied. Then looking at Scott, he said to him. "Is this true, Scott?"

"Yes, Dad, we couldn't help it, it was an accident," Scott answered. Hanging his head down he added, "We never did it on purpose, we said we were sorry and Mike's Dad has paid for one glass panel to be replaced."

"I see. So you want me to pay for the other one, Mr. Lomax?" Jeff said as he took his wallet out and gave him some money. "That should cover it, I'm sorry about this and I hope it won't happen again."

"Thanks, Mr. Tracy," Harry Lomax said as he put the money in his wallet which was more than enough to buy a new glass panel. "I hope it won't happen again either."

After he'd gone, Jeff pulled his eldest son through the gate firmly by his arm. "What have you been told about playing baseball games in the garden? This is the third time you and your friends have caused damage in the neighbourhood and I've had to pay out money for repairs. Now go to you room and stay there until dinner. You'll lose your allowance to pay for the damage too."

"But, Dad, I wanted to go and get my new magazine with a free model of the new Air Force DM7 fighter plane," Scott protested.

"I said go to your room, Scott," his father replied. "You should have thought about that before deciding to play ball games, so reflect on that while you're up there."

Scott knew better than to protest any further and walked sullenly past his younger brothers who were still enjoying themselves in the pool. Virgil had heard most of the conversation and felt sorry for his big brother. He knew how much Scott was looking forward to buying that magazine today. He'd try and find an excuse to go and keep him company when his father was occupied elsewhere.

Scott thumped his feet up the stairs in anger and walked into his room and shut the door loudly, thinking to himself that it wasn't fair that he should be made to go to his room. The money had been paid for the new glass panel hadn't it? And his father had told him that it would come out of his allowance. And his friend Mike's father had paid his share and not told Mike to go to his room. Instead he blamed Scott and sent him home for hitting the ball when really it was Mike's fault for being a lousy catcher.

He lay down on his bed and thought of the injustice of life. If he'd stayed at home his father would have expected him to watch out for his younger brothers and he got tired of doing that sometimes. He wished that this weekend his father had been in New York instead of at home.

The episode with Harry Lomax and Scott had soured the happy mood Jeff had been in earlier. He walked over to the pool where his younger sons were now playing happily with a beach ball and said to them, "Come on, boys, time to get out now."

"Five more minutes please, Daddy," was the expected response from Gordon as he held up one hand to emphasise the time needed. He was too young to have much concept of time but he'd seen John do this on occasions when he was enjoying doing something, then his father interrupted the fun, so he hoped the gesture would work for him too.

"No, son, I have other things to do and you've been in there long enough now," Jeff told him.

Virgil helped the two little ones out of the pool; then John followed.

"When you get dressed again, Virgil, empty the pool and I'll help to put it away when I come back out," Jeff said.

"Okay, Dad," Virgil replied.

Jeff wrapped towels around Alan and Gordon. Then he picked Alan up and took Gordon's hand to lead them back into the house to get them dried and dressed. "Did you enjoy that then?" he asked them.

"Yes, Daddy, can we play in it again tomorrow?" Gordon asked hopefully.

"We'll see," Jeff answered. This was what he was expecting to be asked of Gordon. "Let's get you all dried and dressed first for now."

After dealing with his youngest sons, he remembered that he was supposed to get the food ready to cook for dinner. While doing that, he sent the boys out to play again until the meal was ready. After placing the pie in the oven, he remembered about the call from Roy Chambers wanting to know the details of the contract he'd asked for. So thinking it would save time, he went to his office to get the file out ready for when Roy called back later.

Alan, Gordon and John watched in fascination as Virgil pulled out the plug of the pool and the water emptied into the grass making it soggy. "Help me fold it up and get it back into the box again," he told them as he dragged the now empty pool towards the garage where it was dry to work on.

"Why do we have to put it away again Virgil?" Gordon asked. "Daddy said we could play in it again tomorrow. He said we'll see."

"Because he told me to do it," Virgil told him. He then added, "Anyway if we don't put it away some mean kid might come and steal it while we're all asleep."

Gordon thought about that scenario and decided he wouldn't want that to happen so he helped with folding away his pool that Virgil managed to start without his father's help, as he had not come back out yet.

As soon as the pool was back in the garage, Virgil hoped he could go and see Scott and keep him company while his father was elsewhere. He'd managed to get two of his grandmother's blueberry muffins and two cartons of fruit juice from the kitchen and hide them in a box while his father wasn't looking. He decided to sneak around and go in the front door as his father was more likely to come out of the back.

While Virgil was struggling to put the pool back into the garage, John walked back over to the still wet and soggy grass and was surprised at what he saw. "Look, Gordie, lots of worms have popped up out of the ground. Let's see who can get the most."

John ran and found some old plastic flower container bowls beside where the water hose was wound up on the wall and grabbed three. He passed one each to his brothers who immediately began collecting the worms up in an attempt to win the most, getting their hands, knees and clothes muddy in the process. Once all of the worms had been collected, the three boys decided it would be hard to count them inside the bowls as the worms lay in a pink, slimy, wriggling mass at the bottom.

"We could get some more," John said. "We just need water to make them pop up out of the ground."

John ran and unwound the water hose and turned it on, and aimed it at a dry patch of grass. "Here you hold it and we'll watch them pop up," John said to Gordon as he pushed the hose pipe towards him.

Gordon unfortunately missed grabbing the hose and it fell to the ground soaking John and Alan in the process. He quickly picked it up again and tried to aim at the spot where John had been aiming for but the water pressure was too strong for Gordon to control the hose and it shot upwards sending a long jet of water inside the house though an open window.

John managed to grab the hose and told Alan to turn the tap off. When he'd done that Gordon went over and examined the new worm hunting area. "They're popping up now!" he shouted excitedly.

The three boys began eagerly collecting the second crop of worms and put them in their bowls. "We can take them over to the path and count them and see who won later," John told them.

Meanwhile Virgil managed to sneak upstairs and knocked on Scott's bedroom door. "Can I come in, Scott? It's me," he asked.

"Yeah come in, Virg," Scott answered. He'd been expecting his younger brother to put in an appearance soon.

Virgil went in and saw Scott lying on his bed reading a comic. "Hi, guess Dad was really mad with you today. Here, I brought us one each of Grandma's blueberry muffins and some fruit juice," he told him as he handed over Scott's share of the booty.

"Thanks, Virg," Scott said as he sat up to eat his muffin. "I've made up my mind not to go to Mike Harvey's house again. He's a lousy catcher anyway. I'm still mad at Dad though. I wanted to buy my magazine today, now I'll have to wait. I did my homework assignments last night and this morning so I could have the rest of the weekend to myself and this has to happen."

"He might let you go after dinner. I can't imagine him wanting you stay up here all evening," Virgil replied. "It's not like him to do that."

"You looked as if you were having fun in the yard earlier," Scott said. "Guess Gordie finally persuaded Dad to let him play with his pool at last."

"Yeah it was okay, but Gordie will want it out all the time now," Virgil laughed. "You might only need to take him to the local pool when _you_ decide you want to go now and not him."

"Yeah, that will be good," Scott smiled. He felt happy to have Virgil to talk to after being alone in his room for so long. The two of them talked about past punishments and other matters, and then they read a comic each, while they drank their fruit juice.

I guess I'd better go now or Dad will be mad with me if he finds out I've been up here with you," Virgil said. "I was going to finish making my cart until Gordon decided he wanted his pool out. I need to work on the brake."

"Okay, I've nothing else to do in here so I might as well just check my homework over. Where's Grandma? I haven't heard her about since I came back," Scott asked.

"Out somewhere, don't worry she'll be back in time for dinner and you can escape then," Virgil told him. "I'd better go, see you later."

Virgil sneaked down the stairs slowly. Thankfully the coast was clear for him to go back out through the front door and into the garage without being spotted by his father so he could get on with working on the brakes of his cart.

Jeff came out of his office and was surprised to see a huge pool of water on the hall floor. He stood wondering where it had come from, at first, and then noticed the curtains were dripping wet too. Wet soil from the plant on the window sill had also spilled all over on to the ledge.

He looked up at the ceiling, fearing some leak had occurred from the bathroom above, but it looked okay. He glanced out of the window and was horrified to see his three youngest sons with hands, faces and clothes covered in mud and carrying three bowls towards the path near the garage with something in them.

He stood thinking what to do first, and thought he should mop up the pool of water and see to the curtains and the rest of the mess in the hall. The boys would have to be cleaned up afterwards, at least they were still safe out in the yard. Where had Virgil gone to? He made a mental note to admonish that son for not looking after his brothers and keeping them out of mischief for a few minutes.

As he went to get the mop and bucket he was thankful that the hall was uncarpeted. He quickly began to mop up the water. After he put the mop and bucket away, he took the curtains down and put them in the dryer in the laundry room. He glanced at the clock and realised his mother would be on her way home soon.

Virgil had been working for a few minutes and was busy tightening up the screws with a screwdriver when the cart suddenly lunged forward causing the screwdriver to slip and gash the top of Virgil's hand. He sat looking at his hand for a few seconds before the blood began to flow out and he knew it was going to need a plaster over it.

He made his way around the back where his younger brothers were now busy with the worms, not noticing Virgil going past them into the house

Jeff suddenly remembered about the meal cooking in the kitchen. He rushed in there to find that he had forgotten to switch the stove on when he'd received the phone call from Roy Chambers. Relieved that at least the meal was still safe, he turned the stove on. Now he had to turn his attention to his three youngest sons.

He never got the chance; he was about to go out of the door when Virgil came in holding his badly cut hand. Jeff gasped with shock at first as blood had dripped on to his son's yellow tee shirt making things look worse than they were. "I've cut my hand, Dad, while I was working on the brake for my cart. I need a Band-Aid on it."

Jeff had a look at the wound on the back of Virgil's hand and was relieved to see it was not as serious as he first thought, "Rinse it under the water in the sink while I get the first aid box," he told him..

There were several recounts due to the fact the worms did not want to stay on the path to be counted, choosing instead to slither off in search of earth to burrow beneath it again. John was the only one who could count well out of the three of them but he was getting confused so he decided that Alan was the winner as his worm collection looked larger than the other two. "Let's put them in heaps now and see whose worms first make it all back under the ground."

They all watched in eager anticipation as the worms in each heap untangled themselves yet again from each other. Then they slithered across the path in search of earth once again. Gordon was fascinated as he watched how quickly the worms bored holes in the soil then disappeared under it. He thought that they had noses like the drilling machine he'd watched his father use sometimes to bore holes in the wall to put shelves up.

John was pleased his worms won the race for two reasons, he was bored with the game and he wanted to go to the bathroom. "I won!" he exclaimed happily. "I'm going to the bathroom now."

"So am I," Gordon declared as he jumped up on to his feet again after lying horizontal to watch the worms.

"I want to go too," Alan added not to be outdone or left alone in the garden.

Meanwhile Jeff bathed Virgil's wound with disinfectant and applied a plaster to the back of his hand, "There, that should take care of it, but no more working on that cart for now. Your grandmother should be home soon and then we can have dinner."

At the sound of the word 'dinner' Jeff thought he'd better see how the meal was doing. The vegetables were steaming nicely and the pie was not quite cooked yet. He then remembered about his three youngest sons and the way they looked when he last saw them out in the yard.

The same three sons suddenly appeared in a great hurry through the kitchen door. "We need the bathroom, Daddy," John explained on behalf of all of them.

"I'll say you do, get those shoes off first," Jeff told them as he looked at the three sets of muddy footprints from the door to where they were standing and thinking about whether he had time to get the mop and bucket out again before his mother came home. "What on earth have you been doing to get covered in mud like that?"

"We found worms, Daddy," Alan said happily as he removed his shoes.

"Alan got the most and John's worms won the race back under the ground, Daddy," Gordon added as he removed his shoes also and ran to the bathroom in desperation.

John had kicked off his shoes first and ran off to use the bathroom on the other floor, leaving Alan to follow them to see which bathroom he could get to first out of both of them.

Jeff was about to go and get the mop and bucket again when the phone call from Roy Chambers came through. "Hi, Roy, I've got the file already in my office. I'll go through a few details with you and fax them to you now."

He turned to Virgil who was still sitting at the kitchen table, "Keep an eye on that pie in the oven and let me know when it's done, don't let it burn. I won't be a minute."

"Okay, Dad," Virgil replied.

Ruth Tracy opened the front door on arriving home and after removing her coat and hat in the hall she noticed that something was wrong. 'Where are the curtains, and why is the floor damp?' she thought to herself. 'What's been going on around here while I was out?'

She went into the kitchen and was shocked to see Virgil still wearing his blood-stained tee shirt. "Land sakes, boy what have you done to yourself and where's your father?"

"In his office, Grandma, I'm watching the pie cook in the oven," Virgil answered." I cut my hand, Grandma, when I was working on my cart."

She'd only just recovered from the shock of seeing Virgil when her three youngest grandsons appeared back from the bathroom, still covered in mud.

"Hi, Grandma," Gordon said happily. "We've been playing in my pool today in the yard. Daddy said we could."

"We had a worm race after that," John added. "My worms won. Then we had to go to the bathroom."

"I got lots of worms, Grandma!" Alan told her excitedly.

Ruth Tracy went over to the stove and checked the pie that was nearly ready.

"You won't be getting any dinner until you get those filthy clothes off and get washed," she told them. "Virgil, get that tee shirt off at once before it stains completely. That'll have to go in the wash too."

"We washed our hands when we went to the bathroom, Grandma," Gordon said as he held his hands up for her to see. Streaks of dirty marks ran up his arms where he'd attempted to wash them.

Ruth gasped in shock at the thought of the state of the towels now if those three had just used them. They would obviously need to be added to the laundry list too. At least their shoes were off but she spotted the muddy footprints from the door to where they were now lying. Just what had that son of hers been thinking of this afternoon, and where was Scott? She hoped he was in a reasonable state of appearance.

Fearing the answer but she asked the question anyway, "Where's Scott?"

"Daddy sent him to his room," John told her. "A man came round and was shouting at Daddy because Scott did something and so he sent him up there."

Jeff finished his dealings with Roy Chambers and left his office in time to see his mother ushering John, Gordon and Alan upstairs. He put on a brave smile and said, "Hi, Mom, I got the dinner all prepared in time for you getting back,"

"Yes, Jefferson, I see that you FOUND the time to leave the office to do that," she said icily. "When I get back from cleaning your children up, the children that you were SUPPOSED to be watching while I was out, I may add, you'd better have a few explanations for me about what's been going on around here." She glanced at the window in the hall and said, "For a start, where have the curtains got to and why is the floor all wet?"

"I don't know what happened, Mom, I just came out of the office and found a pool of water on the floor, and the curtains were wet so I put them in the dryer," he immediately regretted saying that as soon as the words left his lips.

"Just came out of the office, Jefferson?" she glared at him. "You've just come out of the office again now and if I know you I bet you've spent the better part of the afternoon in there AS USUAL. Now while I'm upstairs, I'd appreciate it if you would take the pie out of the oven when it's ready and remove those dirty shoes that the boys have left in the kitchen, then you can clean up the floor before we have dinner."

"Okay, Mom, I was about to do that anyway," Jeff said as he went to get the mop and bucket again. He was not in the mood to argue with her and whatever he said would make matters worse. He wondered what on earth had happened to his nice plans for relaxation at home with his family that Saturday afternoon.

He found Virgil coming out of kitchen, "Grandma says I have to take my tee shirt off and put it in the laundry," he told him and added, "Dad, how long has Scott to stay in his room for?"

"He won't be in there much longer, now your grandmother's home, Jeff told him. "I'll go and see him after I've cleaned the floor up."

A few minutes later Jeff made his way to Scott's bedroom door and knocked and went in. He was pleased to be able to keep out of his mother's way for a while and seeing his eldest son was a good reason to be able to do this.

Scott had been checking over his homework assignments that he'd finished that morning and was sitting at his desk.

"Hello, Scott, dinner won't be long so I thought we could have a little talk before you go downstairs. You do understand why I sent you up here, son? This is not the first time you have broken windows or greenhouse glass by playing ball games with your friends in the yard. Why don't you use the park where it's safer?"

Scott turned around and faced his father. He was calmer now and replied, "I will from now on, Dad. Mike doesn't like to walk all the way to the park but I won't be going to his house anymore anyway. I've made my mind up about that."

"Well I'm glad you've had time to think about it, Scott," his father told him. "So if you give me your word and keep it this time, we'll say no more about it."

"I'm sorry and I promise, I won't do it anymore, Dad," Scott told him.

"Good, that is all I need to hear," Jeff smiled and hugged his son to him. "Now knowing you, I expect you're hungry. Dinner is almost ready and you may just have time to go down to the store and collect your magazine afterwards. In fact I may just take a walk down there with you. I may be able to find something to read too. It's a pleasant evening for a walk."

Scott smiled to himself. He knew his father was probably in big trouble with his grandmother. He'd seen a lot from his bedroom window that afternoon, watching his little brothers getting wet and covered in mud from the soaking grass and soil in the yard. Then he'd seen Virgil hurrying over to the house with his cut hand and blood all over his tee shirt. He'd worried a while about that but figured it was not as serious as it looked.

Apart from the upset with his father and Mr. Lomax earlier, he had the best time of it this afternoon as his father would have expected him to clean the kids up before his grandmother got home. Now he was going to get his magazine too, so things hadn't turned out so bad.

Ruth Tracy was still not in the best of moods with her son as she served up dinner and the meal was a quiet affair with only the happy chatter from the freshly cleaned up youngest children breaking the silence.

"Daddy says we'd see that I get my pool out again tomorrow, Grandma," Gordon said.

"Did he now? Well I hope he comes out of his office long enough for him to see you playing in it," his grandmother replied. "Besides he has curtains to hang back up in the hall after I spend time ironing them and seeing to the rest of the extra laundry that I now have to do."

"He saw us today," John said. "Until the man came with Scott and shouted at him."

"Yes, you never told me about that part of your day, Jeff," Ruth Tracy said.

Jeff smiled at Scott. He knew his mother hated to be kept from knowing everything that went on around her. "Nothing to tell, Mom, it's all sorted now and after dinner Scott and I have decided to go for a nice walk. In fact I've decided to take all of them to the park. They can enjoy themselves there for a while before going to bed, playing on the rides and having a few ball games. So you can relax this evening, Mom. How about it boys, do you want to do that?"

The answer had been an excited yes from all five of them. Later, Jeff sat on a park bench, holding Scott's magazine and one for himself to read later along with other comics the younger ones had wanted. He contentedly watched his five sons playing with a ball with some other boys, after they had enjoyed themselves first on the rides.

He reflected over the afternoon's events and thought at last his plans for spending a pleasant Saturday at home with his family today had been salvaged after some little upsets. Now he was pleased to get away from his mother for a while who was still not in the best of moods when he left her.

At least the meal was saved, his mother's wrath would have been worse if it hadn't been. The only problems he faced tomorrow were Gordon wanting his pool out again and hanging the hall curtains back up. He never did discover how they and the floor came to be all wet but he suspected his three youngest sons had been behind it. He never did get around to admonishing Virgil for not watching them, but he was probably too busy visiting Scott up in his room at the time. And hanging up curtains was a small price to pay for enjoying spending time with his sons.

The end


End file.
